Waikiki`s $300 Million Facelift Turns The Dowager Duchess Into

. . . . . . A Vibrant Princess Again

February 05, 1989|By Mim Swartz, Scripps Howard News Service.

HONOLULU — Wonderful, wacky Waikiki. It`s Times Square with palm trees. But Waikiki is not as wild as it once was. The much-maligned beach resort in Hawaii`s teeming capital wears a $330 million facelift that has transformed a frumpy, dowager duchess to a sparkling princess of paradise.

Waikiki is not a quiet, tropical hideaway. Rather, it is the heartbeat of this nice, big tropical high-rise city.

``There are very few places like Waikiki in the world. I cringe when people compare us to Acapulco or Miami,`` says Tom Kiely, president of the Waikiki Beach Operators Association.

Waikiki Beach actually is a series of nine beaches, framed on one end by dazzling Diamond Head, the crater that is the symbol of Hawaii. The Waikiki area, one-half mile wide and two miles long, is crammed with 440 restaurants, 160 hotels and condominiums with 35,000 rooms for rent (at prices averaging $60 to $140 a day), 350 bars and nightclubs, and more than 2,000 shops, along with countless cars, 31,000 workers and 22,000 residents in apartments and cottages.

If you don`t like sun, you can shop till you drop-for everything from Crazy Shirts to Chanel. The same goes for restaurants and night life.

``I think we were promoting an improper image of Waikiki,`` Kiely says.

``Whenever you would see ads of Waikiki, they would show the couple on the beach alone. So all of a sudden someone would come here with an image and an expectation, and we would not fulfill the expectation.``

Kiely says the association now tries to tell the ``real story`` about Waikiki.

``We`ve decided to tell the truth about Waikiki-that yes, there are a lot of hotel rooms here and condominiums, but there`s also great shopping and there`s a great beach. And if you want to jump in the car, 15 minutes away is a quiet beach where you can enjoy solitude. A traveler may want to get away from it all for a while, but they also like to have at their fingertips some activity.``

The recent improvements in Waikiki are only the beginning, officials say, to assure that the energetic beach resort retains its position as the hub of Hawaii`s visitor industry.

Waikiki hotels and condominiums, from the biggest to the smallest, have spent about $300 million to spruce up guest rooms and lobbies. The biggest project involves a $100 million renovation of Hawaii`s largest hotel, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, followed by $50 million at the second largest, the Sheraton Waikiki. Sheraton Hotels also is spending $45 million to restore the 87-year-old Moana Hotel, Hawaii`s first tourist hotel.

The most noticeable of Waikiki`s $30 million in public improvements are along a mile stretch of the busy beachfront thoroughfare, Kalakaua Avenue. Parking and delivery lanes have been transformed into wider sidewalks, repaved with earth-tone non-slip bricks. New benches and trash containers blend in nicely with the native decor, and more than 100 trees in planters add an aesthetical antidote to the vehicular jungle.

Some of the annoyances have been eliminated. No more visitor publication racks clutter congested corners. Instead, customized kiosks in certain locations hold neatly stacked guides and other tourist-related materials.

Bicycles, skateboards and roller skates have been banned from the sidewalks, and city buses have been rerouted from Kalakaua to Kuhio Avenue one block over. Parking is prohibited on Kalakaua, which means trucks can`t make deliveries along the busy street. Deliveries are restricted to between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m. on side streets, where delivery bays have been created to get the trucks out of the flow of traffic.

Slow-moving vehicles were outlawed from Waikiki`s three main thoroughfares, which means the demise of pedicabs. While some of the operators took the city to court, no one greatly misses the bicycle rickshaws. They hindered traffic and some drivers were ripping off tourists for $100-$200 a ride.

Some controversy has erupted over a proposed convention center in the heart of Waikiki where the popular International Market Place stands. The convention center would displace dozens of vendors who sell low-priced goods and fast foods from carts and booths in the outdoor shopping center.

Although the state legislature has picked that site for the convention center, a Japanese company has offered to build an $800 million complex just outside Waikiki, not far from the Ala Moana Shopping Center. The complex would include a convention center, slated to open in 1992, plus hotel, residential units and retail and commercial space. Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi, who was re- elected in November, favors that proposal, which would mean less congestion for Waikiki.